If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

If you have problems registering, please contact editor@pressure-drop.us.
Thanks, and enjoy your visit!

As the world´s best 8 metre sailors gather together at the waterside, the late summer conditions could hardly be better at Hankř.
Clear sky and slightly above 20 degrees welcome the participants of this year´s 8 Metre World Cup at Hankř Yacht Club tonight. After two days of tune up races during the weekend, the official World cups kicked off on Monday 14. The first warning signals will be at 1200 every day during the race week. 28 yachts from nine nations, including H.M King Harald of Norway ´s "Sira", will be fighthing on the water to win the World Cup Trophee
...

Setting off at 4am on Wednesday 9th August Ollie Hill, Ella Lance and Joshua Davies attempted to break the 30-year-old record of 13 hours and 55 minutes for going around the Isle of Wight in Optimist dinghies. The previous record was set
...

The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 Test Event comes to an end, as the five remaining gold medallists are decided.
The last day of the Test Event kicked off with sunny and windy conditions in the Bay of Aarhus, Denmark. Temperatures reached 19°C, and a south-westerly breeze of 11 - 15 knots, gusting 20, provided challenging conditions for competitors.

One moment, teen sailor Simon Hoffman was taking a key step *towards his Olympic dream by competing in the 29ers World Championship off Los Angeles.
The next, he was in the midst of a life-and-death struggle more akin to a Hollywood blockbuster, under the hull of an upturned boat.
The 18-year-old from New*castle in NSW is a Christian and
...

MAPFRE maintained their near-faultless performance in Volvo Ocean Race qualifying – and gave themselves the best possible chance of completing overall victory in the Leg Zero series – as they led the fleet over the finish line on a short opening stage of the final race out of
...

On Friday August 11, 2017, Nacra Sailing issued a recall and sent it to all foiling boat owners as well as the class executive. The recall notice is included at the bottom of this communication.

The chain of events that lead to this recall are as follows:

Two test foils broke about 6 weeks before the first delivery of foiling equipment. These breaks were of the prototype foil design, and occurred before production began. The cause was an unplanned for failure mechanism that occurs when the boat is heavily loaded to leeward and then the windward foil catches. This occurs primarily when the leaps out of the water and gets push downwind, then putting the full force of motion into the typically unloaded side of the windward board.
These first breaks were at the inside of the elbow of the daggerboards. The foil was redesigned to account for breakage at this area, and we have not seen failure there so far.

The boats and foils were then distributed to the first 40 teams. In the 2nd or 3rd day of sailing, the Swedish team broke on of their foils in the manner described above, but the break did not occur at the elbow as in previous iterations, instead it broke at the point of exit of the hull at the ‘bearing’ surface of the cassette that holds the board in place

The current cassette, photographed above, is the same concept of design as used in the A-cat 4-point filing designs. It is made from an advanced plastic called POM and is a single piece. Due to it’s single piece construction, one side must be very shallow to allow the curved boards to fit though the gaps while maintaining
...

Probably the toughest battle in the 2017 Rolex Fastnet Race was the duel for the lead in the largest class of the smallest boats, IRC Four. This was an all-French affair, both in French-built JPK 10.10 sisterships and both teams from northern France. However one was doublehanded from Cherbourg; the other fully crewed from Le Havre. And they have considerable
...

Overnight and into a magnificent West Country morning, boats have been streaming across the Rolex Fastnet Race finish line and into Plymouth Yacht Haven. With this, the leaders in the bigger classes have begun firming up along with the prospects for the boat that will be the crowned overall winner under IRC in the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s biennial flagship offshore race.
...

Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup winning helmsman Peter Burling has joined Team Brunel for the 2017-18 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race – and he’s already out sailing with his new teammates in pre-race qualifying.